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Vandaag145

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Deze maand5065

Totaal110586

2019-02-22

Measuring a mouthpiece

Soon it is possible to order on this website your tailored mouthpiece printed in 3D to fix the for years missing part of an ancient clarinet or try a modern mouthpiece on a old c-melody soprano or other exotic woodwind instrument. This article explains how to measure the relevant parameters of your mouthpiece.

The following parameters are relevant to define a standard mouthpiece for single reed instruments like clarinet and saxophone.

Tools needed to measure a mouthpiece

a caliper

plate of glass

piece of flat paper

graph paper

feeler gauges

Measuring the first general parameters

Definition

Description

Accuracy

Importance

the general parameters

1

l_table

length of the table

0.1mm

H

2

p_table

angle of the table compared the centerline of the mouthpiece

0.2 degrees

H

3

d_barrel_max

maximum diameter of the barrel

0.1 mm

M

This is easy to measure. Take care to measure the length along the line of the flat part of the table.

P_table can be measured with a bevel. Place the mouthpiece with the bottom of the shank against the arm of a bevel. Hold the other arm along the table and fix the screw on the corner.

A suitable bevel can be easily made:

measuring the shank

Definition

Description

Accuracy

Importance

the shank dimensions

4

l_shank

Length of the shank

0.5mm

M

5

l_cork

lenght of the cork part on the shank (clarinets only)

0.5mm

L

6

d_shank_bottom

diameter of the shank

0.1mm

H

7

d_shank_top

diameter of the shank on the barrel side (saxophones only)

0.5mm

M

8

d_shank_mid

diameter of the shank in the middle (saxophones only)

0.5mm

H

9

d_shank_cork

diameter of the cork part of the shank

0.1mm

M

All the measurements of the shank can be done with a caliper. The value d_shank_mid is measure to define the curve of the saxophone mouthpiece shank.

Measuring table and tip

Definition

Description

Accuracy

Importance

the table dimensions

10

w_table_tip

width of the table on the tip side

0.1mm

H

11

w_table_shank

width of the table on the shank side

0.1mm

M

12

h_tip

height op the tip opening

0.5mm

H

13

l_facing

length of the facing

0.5mm

H

14

r_tip

radius of the tip

1mm

M

Measuring of the most tip and table values can be done directly using a caliper. The height of the tip opening and the length of the curve of the tip opening have to be measured using a set of feeler gauges and a flat glass plate. The tip opening itself is difficult to measure. I did it with a stack of feeler gauges but it can also be done with special concave gauges to measure the tip opening.

The radius of the tip can be estimated using the following selfmade circle template or any official one (click here to download the pdf version). Find the cirlce that has the best fit to the tip bow and measure the diameter and divide it by 2 to get the radius.

Measuring the beak

Definition

Description

Accuracy

Importance

the beak dimensions

15

p_beak_outside

angle of the beak compared to the tabke

1 degree

M

16

p_beak_inside

angle of the beak compared to the table

1 degree

M

17

l_beak

length of the beak measured along the centerline of the mouthpiece

1mm

M

18

r_beak

radius of the curvation of the beak (difficult to measure)

1 mm

M

19

h_beak_tip

thickness of the beak at the tip

0.1 mm

M

The angle of the beak can be measured with a bevel. If you don't have that it can also be done with a rod and and piece of paper. Place the rod on the top of the beak and hold the flat part of the table in line with the bottom of the paper. Draw lines parallel with the rod on the paper and measure the angel using a protactor. p_beak is the measured angle decreased with the measure p_table.

The measurement of l_beak and h_beak_tip are quite easy. For the measurement of the radius of the angled top of the beak a perpendicular cross-section anywhere on the beak has to be figured. The width of the beak (value A) and the height of the curve (value B) of the beak have to be measured on the same cross-section location. It is difficult to measure, but it is not a highly critical parameter.

The value r_beak can be derived using the mystereous formula: r_beak =0.5*A / sin(2*atan(2*B/A))